Monday, 1 August 2016

Kerala 21: #6 and #7: Bestin and Bexon (Yahya and Isa)

Palakkad: Relatives suspect role of IS in conversions

Palakkad: Acting on a complaint filed by the father
of siblings with suspected ISIS links, Palakkad South Town Police
Station here has registered a case. Yakkara Vincent, father of siblings Yahiya and Isa, who got converted
to Islam from Christianity three years ago filed a complaint with
Palakkad SP A Srinivas on Saturday morning citing that both his sons
along with their wives are missing since May and he suspect them to have
joined ISIS.

Speaking to DC, Mr Srinivas said that any details with regard to the
complaint and police inquiry could not be revealed as the matter was
very sensitive.

“The police will conduct a detailed investigation on the basis of the
man missing case registered in South Police station,” he said.
Vincent is a native of Changanassery and got settled here three years
ago. His sons Beston Vincent (Yahiya) and Bekson Vincent (Isa) had got
converted to Islam two years ago.

DC has learnt from sources in police that after conversion, Vincent was not in good terms with his sons. Maria, a native of Kochi who got converted from Christianity, is the
wife of Yahiya and a dental doctor, Nimisha Fathima, a Hindu who turned
to Islam during her stay at the Dental College at Poinachi in Kasargode,
is the wife of Isa. Yahiya holds a degree and Isa has an MBA.

The last whatsApp message to Vincent from one of his sons asks him to
tell those who inquire about them that they are in Sri Lanka.
There are reports that a person based in Perinthalmanna in Malappuram
associated with the Kerala unit of a Yemani organisation has worked as a
common link for the siblings and their wives.

Five of 15 Muslims missing from Kerala had converted to Islam just a year ago

2017

Kerala youth who joined ISIS killed

Yahiya of Yakkara in Palakkad, who had
left the country along with his brother Isa and their wives to join the
ISIS in July last year, died in Afghanistan, according to the message
received by his parents on Sunday. According to NIA sources, 22 persons
from Palakkad and Kasargod had gone missing along with Yahiya, Isa and
their wives, and joined the ISIS. The south police here told DC that a
relative of the person from Kasargod, who had joined the IS, received a
message about Yahiya’s death. Mr Prateesh Kumar, superintendent of
police, Palakkad, told DC that it was up to the NIA to conduct further
inquiry and confirm the authenticity of the messages received by the
relatives. The local police would provide all information for the
NIA, he said.

Yahiya and Isa had converted from Christianity under the influence of a
Salafist group active in Kerala. Yahia married Maria, a former
journalist from Kochi, and Isa wed Nimisha Fathima, a dentist and a
resident of Thiruvanathapruam (both converts). All the four had left
their homes in Palakkad after telling their parents that they were
going to Sri Lanka for doing business.

This piece of information was reportedly conveyed to his family which
lives in Kasargod, North Kerala via the messaging app named Telegram on
Saturday. The sender of the message is believed to be a youth named
Ashfaq Majeed, who along with at least 19 others, had reportedly joined the Islamic State last year.